Start by telling them they’re right, that their concerns about the economy, security, and cultural change are real… but then, instead of calling for blanket bans on Muslim immigrants, give them your more human solution whatever it might be.
That’s what Bill Clinton would have done.
I don’t mean to be flip, but I think this attitude explains why Rubio (et al) are losing. Engage with them on an emotional level.
That’s the issue. I don’t think their concerns are a real. I mean, I believe they have concerns that are “real” to them, just not to reality.
I don’t think there’s any way to address that to their satisfaction. They refuse to see facts, so when you show them things like how the majority of people in their economic demographic have benefitted by ACA, they just say things like “Obamacare!” and shut down.
Well, his voters are predominately white and less educated. It’s not a demographic that’s doing particularly well. Economic prospects are poor and death rates are up. So yes, they’re worried about security and angry about immigration, but I don’t think those issues are the root of the problem. I suspect it’s their precarious economic and social position. It’s the insecurity they feel on a daily basis.
The thing is, they’re not looking for a jobs program or healthcare, they’re looking for emotional validation. They want someone to be tough, and to tell them it will be okay. That’s what Trump is doing.
This is from a 05/2014 PPP poll of Iowa registered Republicans:
In all honesty, it doesn’t move the needle very much for Trump. Nate Silver showed this trendline on Google searches as the endorsement filtered:
But here’s why it’s a smart move. Trump’s searches reveal so much popularity, that short of announcing an endorsement by Pope Francis, no one’s moving the dials on him much further up. Still. Right now he’s a football team up a touchdown with the ball. He’s running clock on Ted Cruz, controlling news cycle, and especially after the (mild) Two Corinthians thing yesterday, he’s got a positive for the voters he needs to appeal to back in the news.
Timex
4346
I don’t mean to be flip, but I think this attitude explains why Rubio (et al) are losing.
Trump’s supporters are chronically misinformed. They believe things which are provably incorrect, and simply choose to ignore reality when it is shown to them.
If someone literally does not care about what is true and what is false, then there is no way to hold a rational discussion with them.
You can’t be a presidential candidate who acknowledges a problem and then not do anything about it. Chief executive and all that. Trump wouldn’t be doing as well as he is with that demographic if all he did was “tell them it will okay”. They want the status quo disrupted because they are misinformed about it being horrible, in all the wrong directions.
I’m frankly not sure what you’re proposing here. That a candidate stand up and validate their irrational fears but not promise equally irrational solutions to those irrational fears? Note, any solution to an irrational fear must be equally irrational.
Electoral politics isn’t about conversing in facts, it’s about emotions and what people feel.
Let’s take the refugees.
Trump is saying that yes - you have every right to worry about sleeper cells entering the country via refugee programs. He is then proposing a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants. I do not believe that a ban is the only answer that would appease voters. What about increased scrutiny for countries that we consider terrorism threats, like Syria?
irrational fears
There is absolutely nothing irrational about this particular worry. Terrorists will try and use refugee programs to their advantage. That’s near enough to a certainty.
Timex
4349
Holy shit, Sarah Palin is giving the most insane sounding steam of consciousness endorsement ever. She literally sounds like she is tripping balls right now.
Tim_N
4350
This is the exact strategy of the establishment republicans. They say alot of things in their speeches like “you have every right to be concerned and angry about refugees, about the science of global warming, about evolution being taught in schools, about homosexuals getting rights, about health care reforms, about the government budget, etc.” and then proceed to offer a policy proposal that is slightly less extreme than Trumps. It doesn’t get anywhere because their policy always gets upped by the crazies, who are offering the real solutions. It’s an arms race. You can’t win an election on the back of these people without being one yourself (or an amazing liar).
The only hope of helping them is a candidate like Bernie Sanders, who can direct their anger about real economic issues (as you mentioned in an earlier post) to billionaires (who deserve it much more than say people fleeing ISIS/Assad/Airstrikes with nothing left but a fraction of their family). But he’s a democrat, and with such a polarised country good luck getting them to read one word of any of his propaganda with an open mind.
Or, in other words, they are looking for a father figure.
I too somehow endured that speech…WOW!
@molly_knight
I see Sarah Palin has entered her Miss Havisham on Adderall phase.
KevinC
4355
I know time flies, but I had no idea Trig was old enough to vote already. Damn.
Finally, at long last, having read Great Expectations actually pays off!
The fuck you say. It’s one of the best classic novels in English Literature.
I really hated that book with the intensity of a thousand burning suns.
Trump gets a lot of attention with his wild statements, and yes it’s going to be hard to compete with that.
This is the exact strategy of the establishment republicans.
You have to come across as genuine, and I think few of the Republican candidates can do that. Rubio might smile with his mouth, but look at his eyes. They look angry these days
Here’s a highlight from the 1992 Presidential Debate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta_SFvgbrlY
Clinton was brilliant.
The only hope of helping them is a candidate like Bernie Sanders, who can direct their anger about real economic issues (as you mentioned in an earlier post) to billionaires (who deserve it much more than say people fleeing ISIS/Assad/Airstrikes with nothing left but a fraction of their family).
This is where policy starts to matter. Bernie’s solutions are culturally incompatible with many of Trumps voters. While they may suffer from economic insecurity, they’re going to tune you out as soon as you start taking about plutocrats.
I just came to post that story for this amazing political-media spin:
Ted Cruz wants to get rid of ethanol subsidies.
To be fair, I suppose tax dollars are a renewable resource.
